Thursday, October 25, 2007

I'd Like To Thank The Academy...

So my last letter to the editor in the Deseret News was selected as the Letter of the Month for September, and will be spotlighted this Sunday. I had my picture taken today at the newspaper's office building downtown, and was given a tour of the paper.

It was really neat, as I saw the place in action (it was actually strangely quiet and bussle-free) and met a number of people at the paper, including columnist and editor Jay Evanson as well as Shaun Stahle, the editor of the Church News. I was taken to Joseph Cannon's office, but The Editor was not in at the time. I met a designer/artist/cartoonist who showed me some of his drawings on the computer, and as he told me how he first draws them with pen and then transfers them to the computer for coloring, he handed me the signed, pen version of the one we had just looked at. Sweet!

The guy that showed me around was very gracious. He told me that my letter was a unanimous pick, and to continue writing letters, saying that many of the monthly winners in the past stopped writing. In fact, many of the people I met remembered my letter and chatted with me about it. Next February there will be a banquet for all 12 monthly winners of the past year, with many of the editors and staffers in attendance.

In all, a pretty cool day. I guess I'd better get started on my next submission...

6 comments:

Ashlee said...

Kudos to you! The link you put in this post didn't work, so I'm not sure what your letter was about...but I'm sure it was thought provoking as usual. Just don't go and get too big of a head. :0)

Cameron said...

I think I've fixed the link issues.

Despite these recent accolades, I promise to remain as humble as ever. :-)

Holly said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Holly said...

I think your head is getting a tad bit bigger:) If I ask you for you autograph will it explode?!? Just kidding babe. How about a post on vouchers?

Geoffrey Kruse-Safford said...

Very awesome of and for you, Cameron. Congrats all the way around.

People make fun of letter writers, but as a published letter writer myself (in the Richmond, VA Times-Dispatch a couple times in the 1990's) I can appreciate how great a feeling it is not only to see your work published, but to have it appreciated by others.

Cameron said...

Thanks all. I've submitted letters fairly often over the last year and a half or so. Writing helps me to process what I'm thinking about, and I enjoy the feedback that it sometimes generates. I like to think that my letters are well thought out and serve a useful purpose. It was letters and columns in newspapers that spawned things like the Federalist Papers, so I think it's a very important form of public dialogue.